'You have made me what I am today': Coleen Nolan says an emotional farewell to Loose Women after 11 years

By Sarah Fitzmaurice

Emotional goodbye: Coleen Nolan filmed her last Loose Women show earlier today and couldn't help but break down as she gushed to fans

She has been the longest-serving panellist on the show but after more than 10 years Coleen Nolan has said a tearful farewell to Loose Women.

The singer thanked her co-panellists and made an emotional declaration to fans saying: ‘You’ve made me what I am today’.

She gushed: ‘I want to thank you the audience and you at home because you have been through my life with me and you’ve stood by me for eleven years. You have made me what I am today.’

A special farewell show saw two of her favourite guests John Barrowman and Brian Conley join the panel.

Kate Thornton, Sherrie Hewson and Denise Welch were there to see the Nolans singer off but Coleen revealed the group would be ‘friends forever.’

She said: ‘I just want to say thank you to everyone obviously all you girls I know we will be friends forever so its not goodbye for us but to all the people that have been involved in the show backstage … thank you.’

Coleen was treated to a montage of her best bits over the stint on the show which saw the presenter break down in tears.

Thank you: Coleen thanked her fellow panelists, staff and the viewers for everything on the show

Brian Conley serenaded her with a version of Cole Porter’s classic It’s de – Lovely.

Coleen, who has performed on the show before, also took to the stage to close with a surprise performance of Carole King’s Say Goodbye Today which saw husband, Ray Fensome play guitar.

She had thanked her family earlier and told viewers: ‘And to my family …. I'll never forget this show. It has been my life. It will always be my life and I’ll always be grateful for it.

She added: ‘I love every one of you and all of you at home.’

It was announced in March that Coleen would be leaving the show and while at first she said it ‘time to move on’ but it has later emerged that was not the real reason for her decision to depart the show.

Bye bye girls: Coleen, has left the panel seen with her co-hosts Andrea McLean, Denise Welch, Zoe Tyler and Kate Thornton

The Nolans singer felt she couldn’t stay on the show any longer – because she believed her husband was about to leave her.

Coleen, 46, was in a meeting with ITV bosses talking about a marriage breakdown discussion planned for the Loose Women show when she realised she couldn’t stay a minute longer because she believed she was on the brink of her own marriage breakdown.

She described the meeting and said: ‘Just as I went to speak I thought, “Oh my god I’m going to cry in front of all of them.” I don’t cry in front of people. I got up and ran out and cried all day. In the end they had to change the topic.’

New roles? Carol Vorderman and Sally Lindsay are hotly tipped to replace Kate Thornton and Zoe Tyler on ITV's daytime show Loose Women

Coleen explained the reason for her self-described ‘paranoid nutter’ behaviour was because she was scared her husband was about to leave her, just like Shane Ritchie had done over a decade earlier.

Sarah Millican and Janet Street Porter have joined the panel in recent months but the line-up is set to see a further shake up in a bid to boost ratings.

Following the dismissal of regular panellists Zoe Tyler and Kate Thornton, Carol Vorderman, 50 and Sally Lindsay, 37 have been tipped as the most likely candidates to take their place on the lively daytime chat show.

Carol and Sally are hot favourites, though Vicar of Dibley star Dawn French, actress Caroline Quentin and Royle Family writer Caroline Aherne were also considered by ITV for the slots.

Loose Women has faced a significant ratings drop since January, falling by nearly two-thirds. The ITV programme now draws only 700,000 viewers, less even than BBC1's daytime antiques show Bargain Hunt.